Sandpit to Seed
The TNQ Drought Hub is excited to be working with James Cook University researchers to help them move their research ideas that could improve agricultural adaption, sustainability and resilience towar...
My PhD Journey has been one of the most intense and yet empowering processes I have encountered throughout my academic growth and development. The academic rigours as demanded and acquired has absolutely refined my skills and knowledge base as both a writer and developing scholar, specifically in the sphere of First Nation Methodologies and the use of Creative Practice within an academic context.
My case study focused on the repatriation of human hair samples of two of our female ancestors collected by the anthropologist Donald Thomson in the 1930s. My methodology was autoethnographic and creative approach and practice. Fundamentally, First Nation Methodology (specific to my inherited lineage) guided my practice throughout analysis and interrogation.
Multi-genred creative forms of exploration, method and analysis drove my approach throughout the process. As a result, a new method which I call Arnya Songline Methodology was revealed. A focus on Voice and Giving Voice to Voice was also emphasized throughout (Voice Emergence) which in turn also revealed the termed A Living Epistemology as well as Arnya Lecture which is my multi-genred Lecture format as a performative structure.
At this point of my academic and scholarly development I am reminded of my beginnings as a younger self roaming the bushlands of my home Country in the Western Cape. Throughout this time, little did I know that indeed I was organically absorbing through lived experience the teachings and songlines of Country that would ultimately consolidate my knowledge base and therefore contribute directly to my scholarly argument and contribution to the academy. The teachings of collective kinship throughout the course of my life journey have weaved their way into the consolidation of my articulation and contribution in culmination. The filed away memories of a life lived to date served as well in which to draw from all in alignment and in accordance with the ontologies, epistemologies and axiologies of the Wik and Wikway Lore systems (i.e. the Wik and Wikway [Alngith/Liningithi/Mbaiwum-Trotj] Academy) of my maternal inherited bloodline/s.
I owe all that I have achieved to date to the legacies afforded to me by my ancestral lineage/s, those that have gone before and those that will continue to come behind. I also acknowledge the songlines and academic kin (both national as well global) who have gone before and paved the way for me to enter into and to that which I have built upon. I have found kinship both within Australia as well as beyond our shores in terms of making connections pertaining to Integrity-based and Spirit-based Research (McIvor, 2010) as well as Exploring, Engaging and Experiencing [the] Self as a Native Method of Inquiry (Whitinui, 2014).
Martin (Quandamooka Ontology/Quampie Theory, 2008), Wilson (Research is Ceremony, 2008) and Kovach’s (Epistemic Centre, 2009) are all academic-kin templates that occupy the same fireplace in which my work draws from, connects with and extends on.
I am deeply humbled with a heart full of gratitude to all that have contributed to my Journey and have provided support along the way both kin and non-kin.
Kankanam/Ooyombwith
The TNQ Drought Hub is excited to be working with James Cook University researchers to help them move their research ideas that could improve agricultural adaption, sustainability and resilience towar...
The TNQ Drought Hub recently hosted the National Soils Advocate, the Honourable Penelope Wensley AC for a whirlwind 2-day field trip visiting numerous soils restoration and rehabilitation sites to lea...
On 1 August, The Cairns Institute hosted a small, informal symposium for HDR students working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in Far North Queensland. It brought together Indigenous...
The Cairns Institute Fellow Dr Kearrin Sims coordinates the JCU Research Ethical Development Symposium, now in its second year. It will be held 27-29 September at The Cairns Institute. This year will ...
The Developing Northern Australia Conference returned to Darwin this year in 2023. In 2021, the conference converted to an online event an hour before the program was due to begin due to a sudden NT C...
The Cairns Institute will host an informal symposium for HDR students working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in Far North Queensland. This symposium will explore if and how post-gr...
TNQ Drought Hub’s Professor Allan Dale, Doctor Jane Oorschot and Ms Kara Worth were invited to speak at the Science to Practice Forum and share their experience on innovative tools and practices...
Congratulations to the TNQ Drought Hub drought resilience scholarship recipients. The hub recently offered scholarship opportunities to JCU students who were interested in undertaking an Honours or Ma...
© 2023 The Cairns Institute | Site Map | Site by OracleStudio | Design by LeoSchoepflin